I recently had a debate with several colleagues about the following question; would you rather be the best in the world at one specific task or a jack of all trades? Viewpoints on the question were mixed.

On one hand, being the best in the world makes you an authority on whatever it is you are the best at. A jack of all trades may have a wide range of talents, but is unlikely to be called upon for knowledge on one particular subject.

On the other hand people that are the best at what they do spend endless hours perfecting their craft, but are often one dimensional. What does a professional athlete do after his or her career is finished? Malcolm Gladwell’s title “Outliers” suggests that it takes 10,000 hours for someone to master their craft. That’s over five years (based on a 37.5 hour work week) of working on only one specific task.

Product Management is one career path where it’s viewed as beneficial to have expertise in a number of areas. As the link between a number of organizational functions including technology, marketing and sales – having broad knowledge is important for developing the trust and support of the stakeholders Product Managers work with on a daily basis. A Software Product Manager without technical expertise may have difficulty communicating customer needs to the internal technology team. An effective product manager though, must also be able to communication benefits to the product’s end user in a way they’ll understand.

In Product Management, being the best in the world is not a matter of mastering one particular task. What are the key factors to perfecting your craft?

The Harvard Business Review published this article last week discussing a question we’ve all undoubtedly asked ourselves, “where will I be five years from now?”.

To me though, the more important question is “where do I want to be five years from now?”. Whether you’re a student, an entrepreneur or the CEO of a fortune 500 company, your goals are only as good as the plan you put in place to achieve them.

Over time circumstances will change and what you once believed would be you “five years from now” may not become your reality. Where you are five years from now will depend on the path you take to get there and the critical decisions you make along the way. As they say, you miss 100% of the shots you never take. It’s easy to dream big, but it take guts to make it your mission to achieve them.

Below is a graphic developed by KISSmetrics outlining the evolution of web design since the world’s first website was launched in 1991.

In only 20 years the definition of a “web presence” has evolved to the point that today, many argue that traditional websites are becoming obsolete. When discussing the promotion of his new book, Guy Kawasaki recently suggested that he didn’t need a website to reach his target customers, but a Facebook page instead.

Static websites are a thing of the past and concepts like collaboration and crowd sourcing are becoming web standards. Of course, the evolution will continue and even these concepts will become old news (probably even faster than traditional web pages). The infographic below is a great reflection of where we’ve been in such a short period of time. One can only speculate what this chart will look like 20 years from today.

With the pace at which the online landscape is evolving, it’s easier than ever to become complacent and fall behind competition. Businesses that are making the transition online need to recognize the importance of paying particular attention to factors that are likely to affect the future direction of their industry. The following is a list of what I believe are the best ways to stay on the cutting edge and position your organization for the future.

1. Know What Your Competition is Doing

While we’d ideally like to be ahead of our competition, knowing what they’re doing today will give pointers to where they are headed.

2. Listen to Your Customers

They may not be able to tell you exactly what they want, but gaining insight to how they’ll use your products is essential to building irreplaceable solutions.

3. Hire for technical expertise

Today everything is happening online. If you don’t have the technical expertise, you’ll be left in the dust. Even worse, the longer you wait to adapt to new technologies the harder it will be to get back into the game.

4. Do as an Entrepreneur Would

With the pace at which businesses and technologies are moving today, bureaucracy should be avoided at all costs. Put decision making in the hands of people capable of making the right decisions and give your products a chance to grow.

5. Involve Organizational Youth in Decision Making

A colleague recently told me that he heard “if you want to understand why Blackberry Messenger (BBM) is so popular, you’ll have to ask your kids”. The youth may not have as much experience, but in many cases they’re closer to the innovations that will allow your business to flourish. Don’t forget their voice.

Today, the Harvard Business Review featured an article by Umair Haque on the importance of failure. While it is often difficult for people to look at failure positively, it’s usually failure that allows us to grow both personally and professionally. Failure gives way to new learnings, new solutions and ultimately, innovation.

“A system that fails to fail lacks the capacity to evolve — much less to gain resilience, or, above all, wisdom.”

Similarly, Seth Godin’s book “The Dip” discusses the importance of knowing when to quit. A product marketer that spends too long on projects that are likely to fail will have less success than a person that identifies the projects that are unlikely to succeed earlier in the development process. The difference is that the second person fails faster, allowing them to get to the good ideas quicker.

In a perfect world we’d all be successful at every attempt we made. Unfortunately, without failure we’d never gain the insight required to come up with truly innovative solutions.

A recent poll conducted by SmartBrief on Social Media asked readers if they believed media companies and publishers should charge for online content.

No, content wants to be free – 48.73%
Online content should be based on a “freemium model” – 28.48%
Yes, there will be buyers for all kinds of relevant information – 22.78%

The results weren’t surprising, but point to a couple of issues that publishers need to be aware of going forward.

The increasing availability of content online is making credibility an important element of a publisher’s ability to charge for use. Almost 30% of respondents thought that a “freemium model” was an appropriate approach, meaning potential customers would have access to a limited selection of content free of charge. This approach gives exposure to the content and let’s potential purchasers see the product quality before making a decision.

A person’s willingness to pay for content is partially dependent on their demographic and the type of content they’re interested in acquiring. For example, a professional that needs credible information as a part of their work responsibilities is more likely to pay for content than someone look for casual reading.

The missing piece to most content you can find online (other than confirmed credibility) is the context. Generally facts are easy to come by; however, the explanation of a trained professional is likely to have a much higher perceived value. (See http://www.newmediacy.wordpress.com for more information on the New York Times new pay-for-content plan).

My answer to whether or not publishers and media companies should charge for content is, it depends. Customer demographics, the purpose of the communication and the ease of acquiring similar information elsewhere are just a few of the many considerations that need to be made before making a decision. Content marketing has become an important component of the marketing mix for companies hoping to gain credibility with their target market, and the social landscape is increasingly used to facilitate the conversation.

On February 2nd, the Daily became available on Apple’s iPad app store with a mission to provide a unique online news experience specifically for the iPad. For some time the publishing industry has struggled to monetize online news content because of the availability free information on the Internet, but the creators of the Daily appear to be taking a step in the right direction.

Below is an overview of the Daily and some of it’s unique functionalities:

Described as living news, the Daily “combines text, image, sound, video and movement to tell stories that come alive the more you touch, swipe, tap and expolore”.

3 Reasons It’s Different

Much of the Daily’s content is opinion-based, differentiating it from free sources of information that focus primarily on “the facts”.

The Daily has been built specifically for the iPad, offering a superior viewing experience to competing offerings.

It’s customizable and interactive; customers can indicate preferences including local weater and their favourite sports teams.

Recognizing that potential customers may need to experience the Daily to understand it’s value, the product is available for free on a two week trial. Regularly the Daily is sold for only $39.00 a year or $0.99 a day. If you don’t yet see the value proposition, I suggest you give it a try. If nothing else you’ll get a taste for the direction the publishing industry is heading and the new formats publishers are testing to enhance the value of their content.